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Election Committee Members The Popular Democratic Party (PPD), with Carla Angelo González; the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), with Roberto I. Aponte Berríos; the Citizens’ Victory Movement (MVC), with Lillian Aponte Dones; and the Dignity Project (PD), with Juan Frontera Suau, Agree pointed out that the proposal was made by the Electoral Commissioner New Progressive Party (PNP), Anibal Vega Borges——Violation of the transparency of the voting process.
According to the spokesperson Metro Puerto RicoVega Borges He suggested that early voting ballots be sent by regular mail and not certified to save money and cover the costs of the “Creole” citizens voting.
Faced with the debate about the possible savings to pay for the referendum – which, according to the State Election Commission (CEE), will cost $1.3 million – Angleró González argues that ““There is no reason to economize the country’s democratic process.”
“Save on presidential elections and status consultations. By eliminating these two ballots, the state election board should save about $2.6 million.“,He said.
Furthermore, he insisted that the votes would not produce “any type of results that would benefit the citizens in any way.”
“There are two votes and the result you maintain does not affect the democratic process in the country because it does not affect the votes in the presidential vote, the symbolic vote, nor the votes in the status consultations that have already taken place. The same progressives in the United States say that this is an investigation because it is an expensive investigation paid for by the state. So let the New Progressive Party pay for it. Should I reduce it? “Let them cut where it will not produce any results that are beneficial to the citizens,” said the election commissioner of Lapahua.
Likewise, the Electoral Commissioners who rejected the initiative determined that The Electoral Code provides Is it possible to send these ballots? Certificate.
“The Election Act is clear and requires certification for a reason, it makes the process transparent, especially with the 2020 election and the recently concluded primary being so contested,” he noted Aponte Berrios.
In itself, Aponte Gifts He clarified that the regulation had already been approved but there was an impasse during the review of the document previously signed by the PNP.
“We know that the most important thing right now is to provide this vote with a security mechanism that we have not seen in the last election (…) We have just concluded a disastrous primary in which there was no cost in the process to the confidence of the country”, he asserted.
For her part, the PPD election commissioner insisted that “sending the ballot by certified mail with a return receipt” ensures that the ballot leaves and reaches the voter.
“If we remember that a few months ago some postal workers were arrested for mishandling mail-in ballots in the PNP special elections and it was the PNP Commissioner (at the time it was Vanessa Santo Domingo) who was able to alert the authorities because he had this ballot, he knew what the ballot number of this ballot was and they were able to verify that, in fact, this ballot had not been delivered to the voter,” Angleró González said as an example, adding that the party will not succumb to pressure.
He also said that if the president did not support sending it by registered mail and note, “BJP to take case to court”.
On the other hand, Democratic Party Electoral Commissioner Frontera Suau assured that the community is against this initiative, urging that the people must have guarantees and that “ordinary mail cannot provide these”.
“The voting process must be designed to expand opportunities for voters, but this breadth must not put at risk the votes of the people and the value of their votes. This is not an assumption, it is not simply based on belief, given the facts, but on the experience of the 2020 elections, on the experience of the primaries before 2020 and on the more recent primaries. Voting by mail must be examined very carefully and provide the necessary guarantees so that the vote is valid and that the votes of those who have the opportunity to vote are counted,” said Frontera Suo.
Likewise, the Electoral Commissioner, who did not support the proposal, stressed that the rules must be published as soon as possible. Therefore, the spokesperson hopes that the President of the EEC, Judge Jessica Padilla, will be able to make a decision this week and publish the early voting rules once the controversy is clarified.
The MVC Electoral Commissioner reported that the party also proposed to ensure advance voting in accommodation places (i.e. hospitals, shelters, correctional institutions, etc.).
“We submitted a proposal to the plenary of the Commission – this is the third time we have submitted it – on how to regulate voting in accommodation venues, such as Aegis, because we know that the state’s right to protect this population “is in the hands of a third party, in the custody of a third party”, he revealed. He added that in past elections, such voting had been controversial and compromised due to the nature of the voting method.
In light of this, Aponte Dones reiterated that it is urgent for Padilla to make a decision on the initiative.
For its part, PIP urged that necessary personnel are needed to process all materials related to early voting.
“When preparing these materials, including those envelopes that contain the ballots, and the stamps that must be affixed to them… it takes time and personnel that the EEC does not have. The annual austerity program of the Finance Council has led to a reduction in the staff of the Commission,” reports Aponte Berríos.
Furthermore, he maintained that the CEE has yet to effectively implement basic guidance on the voter registration process for those aged 18 and above.
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